‘"We didn’t panic," Hecht said. "There’s confidence in this team, whether we play Toronto or any other team. We’ve got the confidence we can win every game. I think it shows in everybody this year. We’re out there, down in the third, and we’re not just throwing pucks away. We’re making plays."’

‘The Sabres have a franchise goalie, a long-serving coach, and regularly raid the NHL bargain basement with success. They don’t do it with big-name free agents and before this season many people wouldn’t have known Tyler Myers from Mike Myers. Adam Mair was declared unworthy by the Leafs almost a decade ago but is part of one of the NHL’s top penalty killing units. Bit players doing small things adding up to big results have moved the Sabres from playoff wannabes to third in the conference.’

“It was a hard-fought game tonight,” said Miller, who had to deal with crease-crashing Leafs players throughout the game. “We came back and played a tight third period. Even though we only had a couple of chances, we made one count and we got to overtime.”

Hecht and Nathan Paetsch tallied for Buffalo, which has won nine straight against the Maple Leafs and eight in a row at Air Canada Centre. The Sabres are now 6-1-1 in their last eight. Ryan Miller stopped 34-of-36 shots.’

‘Buffalo has won nine consecutive games against the Maple Leafs and eight in a row at the Air Canada Centre, tying an NHL mark set by the California Golden Seals when they won eight straight at Cleveland between January of 1975 and March of 1977. The Sabres have not lost at Toronto since a 4-2 loss on January 19th, 2008.’